26th annual chili cook-off in Canadensis

Daniels Top-O-The-Poconos Resort will have all the heat you can handle on Saturday during its 26th annual chili cook-off.

The popular event will offer chili and salsa lovers tons of varieties to try, and they even get to vote for their favorites.

"We had about 50 contestants last year. We're always hopeful for more," said Chuck Daniels, innkeeper and cook-off chairman. "We ask for a $2 donation at the door, and that money goes to our local Barrett Township Fire Department. Last year, we donated around $400 to them."

The chili cook-off started as a part of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau's Winter Carnival many years ago.

"The idea was to extend the ski season one more week after Presidents Week," Daniels said. "The Winter Carnival ended but we continued, and the event grows every year."

Each year, the judges get the fun task of tasting every chili and salsa and picking their favorites. Al Moranville, department chair of the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management program at East Stroudsburg University, has been a judge for this event since the first year. He brings along a few other professors from the department to help judge the entries.

A few specific characteristics will help in determining the winners.

"We judge on four criteria: color, texture, aroma and taste," Moranville said. "We take a teeny taste and then cleanse the palate with sherbet or beer between each chili. We also taste the salsa the same way. We taste all the chili first and then the salsa."

The judges decide on first, second and third place, and honorable mention. But everyone else gets a say in the other winners.

This event has seen many varieties of chili over the 26 years. Daniels said there are usually some traditional chili as well as some that are a little different than the usual.

"Lately, we've been getting some vegetarian chili, but there's always a couple of venison chili," Daniels said. "We see a lot of different chili — some real spicy, some not so much, chicken chili and turkey chili."

Many of the participants have been a part of this event since its early days. Tommy Neville, owner of Neville's Bloomin' Onion in Mountainhome, has entered multiple times, but creates a different chili each year.

"Throughout the years, we've entered five to 10 times. We do a different chili every year. The first year, we did a traditional chili. And I've done ones with beans and ones without. I'm researching for this year and trying to be different," Neville said. "I won the salsa contest last year, and I'm going to do a fruit salsa this year."

While Neville's Bloomin' Onion doesn't have chili on the menu all the time, Neville adds it to the menu as a special every now and then.

"We're all chili heads when it comes to Daniels' event," he said. "They do the right thing. They give to the volunteer fire department, and that makes a big difference. It supports the local people."

In addition to the chili and salsa, the band County Line will get people up and dancing. They've been playing this event since the beginning, and Moranville is part of the band.

"We've been together over 30 years. We were all professional musicians and have done this at various other places," he said. "We play music that goes with chili, if there's a music that goes with chili."

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